Liam Cunningham famously played Davos Seaworth on Game of Thrones, a former smuggler who became an advisor to King Stannis Baratheon, and later to King in the North Jon Snow. He’s now re-teamed with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss for their next project: 3 Body Problem, based on the hugely popular science fiction books by Liu Cixin.
Cunningham will play Thomas Wade, a hard-edged intelligence officer who couldn’t be more different from the kindly Davos. Speaking to Collider, Cunningham said that he was “in serious talks for another project” when Benioff and Weiss came calling, but ended up clearing his schedule. “‘You’re not doing that. You’re coming with us,’” he remembers them saying. “It could have been a day’s work on the other thing, but when those two call, you run to the clarion call.”
3 Body Problem is based on Cixin’s trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past, a dense series involving humanity’s first contact with extraterrestrials, extended discussions of quantum mechanics and complicated physics, and brutal depictions of Earth’s own ugly history. It’s a heady, difficult work, but Cunningham has faith that the guys behind Game of Thrones can pull it off. “It’s always the quality of the writing, and these guys, it’s some of the best writing I’ve ever come across in my life. And this is also saying I spent a year and a half with the Royal Shakespeare Company,” Cunningham said. “These boys are absolutely extraordinary, the words they put in an actor’s mouth.”
Liam Cunningham (Davos) never read the Game of Thrones books
Cunningham trusts them so much that he hasn’t read the Three-Body books himself. Benioff is apparently “an enormous fan of the books,” hopefully enough for everyone. Cunningham never read the Game of Thrones books either, for the record. Well, Davos was illiterate for part of the series, so maybe he was just trying to stay true to the character.
3 Body Problem is due out on Netflix in January of next year. Meanwhile, you can see Cunningham as the captain of a doomed ship in The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which is out in theaters now!
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